Saturday, 23 June 2012

You pay for this

Chris Snowdon draws our attention to an organisation called Active Europe whose vision is “a democratic, diverse and peaceful world free from alcohol and other drugs where any individual can live up to her full potential.” Their questionable and intolerant policy agenda can be seen here. It starts with this and then goes on:

There is a direct connection between the consumption of alcohol and the extent of alcohol related harm. The amount of alcohol related problems in society is linked with the total alcohol consumption. Attempts to reduce alcohol related harm should therefore be aimed at reducing the total consumption of alcohol. Restricive alcohol policies save lives and money and therefore contribute to development of the whole society.

While everyone is entitled to their opinion, the worrying thing is that this unpleasant organisation is funded by the EU. Many will say the sooner we’re out, the better.

8 comments:

That paragarph can be written for anything you wish to restrict. E.g. if you oppose car use:

"There is a direct connection between the use of cars and the extent of car related harm. The number of car related problems in society is linked with the total car usage. Attempts to reduce car related harm should therefore be aimed at reducing the total use of cars. Restrictive car policies save lives and money and therefore contribute to development of the whole society."

In other words, it's just generic, repressive twaddle. By the way, did they really spell 'restrictive' wrongly?

"There is a direct connection between the use of tobacco and the extent of tobacco related harm. The number of tobacco related problems in society is linked with the total tobacco usage. Attempts to reduce tobacco related harm should therefore be aimed at reducing the total use of tobacco. Restrictive tobacco policies save lives and money and therefore contribute to development of the whole society."

"There is a direct connection between the use of the EU and the extent of EU-related harm. The number of EU-related problems in society is linked with the total EU usage. Attempts to reduce EU-related harm should therefore be aimed at reducing the total use of the EU. Policies restrictive of the EU save lives and money and therefore contribute to development of the whole society."

“There is a direct connection between sports and the extent of sport-related harm. The number of sport-related problems in society is linked with the total sport played. Attempts to reduce sport-related harm should therefore be aimed at reducing sports. Policies restrictive of sport save lives and money and therefore contribute to development of the whole society."

Doesn’t it ever occur to these zealots that if in real terms restricting something would genuinely save the government money then they’d be bringing in restrictions all on their own without the need for campaign groups such as theirs to tell them to do it? After all, the only real reason why the government won’t legalise at least drugs like cannabis is because at the moment they aren’t making any cash from it, and they’ve had their fingers burned by getting used to high incomes from the likes of alcohol, tobacco and petrol to want to get themselves into another corner that they can’t afford to get themselves out of.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: high prices on substances that we like to enjoy and indulge in are unfair and an irritant, admittedly, but ultimately they’re what has saved tobacco from being made totally illegal, and allowed us to keep driving our cars to and from work, and they’ll do the same for alcohol – a small silver lining for you lot who are gearing up to face down the new breed of Healthists who are looking at you all with greedy eyes.

It may not seem like such a good deal at the moment, but believe me, once they get the bit between their teeth it'll be that one single fact which may stand between you and US-style Prohibition. Remember, for every extra penny they charge you for a beer, they need you just that teeny bit more ...

xX While everyone is entitled to their opinion, the worrying thing is that this unpleasant organisation is funded by the EU. Many will say the sooner we’re out, the better. XX

You think it will make a difference?

Ask Norwegian fishermen, or Swiss cow breeders if not being members makes the SLIGHTEST bloody difference to them having to "obey" E.U directives.

Simple. "You do not follow E.U "guidelines", you will not be allowed to trade with any E.U member, and none of your goods will be allowd to transverse E.U territory. including land sea and AIR routs, in transit to your customers, regardless if they are E.U members or not."

Which, in many more volumes, is basically what Norway were told when they told the E.U to "go fuck your net sizes!"

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A Martin Scriblerus Blog

Salient quotations

"If I see one more politician who voted for the smoking ban crying crocodile tears about the state of the pub industry, I may throw up." (Chris Snowdon)

"The era of big, bossy, state interference, top-down lever pulling is coming to an end." (David Cameron, 2008)

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." (H. L. Mencken)

"The final nails have now been hammered into the coffin of the freedom to smoke in enclosed public places. This piece of legislation must be one of the most restrictive, spiteful and socially divisive imposed by any British Government. (Lord Stoddart of Swindon)

"Raising taxes on alcohol to prevent problem drinking is akin to raising the price of gasoline to prevent people from speeding." (Edward Peter Stringham)

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." (C. S. Lewis)

"People who deal only in 'craft' beer do not care about some dirty old pub and the dirty old people who are in it and the dirty old community that it holds together." (Boozy Procrastinator)

"There's a saying that, given time, all organisations end up as if they were run by a conspiracy of their foes." (Rhys Jones)

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'Wow! What a Ride!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

"No pleasure is worth giving up for the sake of two more years in a geriatric home at Weston-super-Mare." (Kingsley Amis)

"When you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves,
For you will have lost the last of England." (Hilaire Belloc)

What's this all about?

This is not a beer blog. It's a view of life from the saloon bar, not entirely about the saloon bar - which of course is a metaphorical place as well as a physical one. It is as much about political correctness and the erosion of lifestyle freedom as it is about pubs and beer. And, while I enjoy cask beer, I don't assume that it is the only alcoholic beverage worth consuming.

I'm a non-smoker, but not an antismoker. I believe the owners of private property should be entitled to choose whether or not smoking is permitted on their premises. If any supporter of pubs still thinks the smoking ban was a remotely good idea, just look around at all the pubs that have closed since 1 July 2007. The smoking ban is what prompted the creation of this blog back then and, while it touches on many other topics, it remains essentially its core theme. However, there remains much to be enjoyed and celebrated in pubs despite the effects of the ban.

I condemn drunken driving, but there is no evidence that driving after consuming a small quantity of alcohol is dangerous, and the campaign to discourage driving even within the British legal limit has been a major cause of the decline of the pub trade in recent years. Reducing the current legal limit - a proposal fortunately rejected by the Coalition government - would lead to the closure of thousands more pubs and would not necessarily save a single life. In my view, this is at least as much a threat to pubs as the smoking ban.

As you will probably gather from reading the blog, I live in Stockport, Cheshire, a thriving town which is definitely not part of Manchester and has one of the finest collections of characterful pubs in the country.

The blog is written purely for my own entertainment and to get things off my chest. It walks a tightrope between libertarianism and conservatism. It is nostalgic, idiosyncratic and at times inconsistent. You are welcome to disagree, but if you don't like it, you don't have to read it.

I have no connection with the tobacco industry and receive no funding from it.